Joe Murphy, AdvantageCare PhysiciansWhile it can be hard to rebuild a tarnished reputation, Joe Murphy and his coworkers are hitting the streets in the local Forest Hills community toward that end at AdvantageCare Physicians. For yea...

Tom Long, Queens Conservative Party ChairmanAs the head of the Conservative Party in Queens, Tom Long is no stranger to the plight of the underdog. But, he says, as stories of political corruption continue to surface, his job gets easier eve...

Laura Silver, AuthorWhen it comes to soul food, the knish might not make top three on Family Feud, but for Laura Silver, it’s number one. “I am Jewish, I’m a native of Flushing, Queens, and when I grew up there were a...

Payal Doctor, LGCC ProfessorShe might not be one to boast about her accomplishments, but LaGuardia Community College Associate Professor of Psychology Dr. Payal Doctor, who serves as the faculty adviser of the Alpha Theta Phi...

Susan Anderson, Town Square, Inc.As she stood on the precipice of motherhood, Susan Anderson founded Town Square, Inc., an organization designed to bring together local parents and children for fun, healthy and educational activit...

Richard Mazda, Secret Theatre/LIC Arts OpenWhen Richard Mazda emigrated from London leaving behind a successful acting career to become a full-time Queens resident in the early 2000s, it didn’t take him long to settle in and start tossing a...

Howie Hawkins, Green Party Governor CandidateFor Howie Hawkins, the political awakening came early in life. In 1964, Hawkins recalls, “Reagan’s running against Fair Housing in California. We had a fair housing law, and it got repealed in a Re...

Marek Sobolewski, Exit Realty All SeasonsWhen Marek Sobolewski entered law school in Warsaw, Poland, in the early 1990s, he saw little hope for finding gainful employment in his homeland, so he struck out for New York City with nothing bu...

John Choe, One FlushingAmid a struggling economy and rising unemployment, lifelong Flushing resident John Choe felt things needed to change. So in 2011 he started the nonprofit One Flushing with a goal of bringing the Fl...

Walker Blankenship, Kensington StablesFor 21 years, Walker Blankenship has watched the Brooklyn cityscape build up around Kensington Stables, the last remaining horse stable to serve Prospect Park. Blankenship realized he had the horse...

Denny Meyer, AVER and TAVA spokespersonDenny Meyer is no stranger to struggle. “I became an activist when I was born, because my parents were Holocaust refugees,” Meyer said. “When I was a toddler in the 1940s – when Truman was presiden...

Daniel Olson, Musician/Financial PlannerGrowing up in Wisconsin, there was nothing that Daniel Olson loved more than music. He began taking music lessons as a child, picked up the guitar and keyboard as he got older and played in bands i...

Renee Manzolillo, Breakin BoundariesFor most people, a broken back would be enough to convince them it is time to hang up their dancing shoes and accept that things will never be the same. But for Renee Manzolillo, a former junior Ol...

The Kremlin said on Friday a U.S. decision to lift some restrictions on arms deliveries to Syrian rebels was risky because weapons might end up in the hands of "terrorists". Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call that such a scenario, if it came to pass, would pose a threat to the Middle East and to Russian forces in Syria. Commenting on U.S-Russian efforts to strike a deal to facilitate the safe passage of Syrian rebels from eastern Aleppo, Peskov said the Kremlin hoped an agreement could be reached, but said talks on the subject were complex and kept faltering due to decisions taken by the United States.

By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - Hundreds of men from eastern Aleppo have gone missing after leaving rebel-held areas, the United Nations' human rights office said on Friday, voicing deep concern that government forces could be mistreating them. U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville also said there were reports that two rebel militias -- Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, formerly known as the Nusra Front, and the Abu Amara Battalion -- had during the last two weeks abducted and killed an unknown number of civilians in the city who had asked armed groups to leave their neighborhoods to save the lives of civilians. Syrian government forces pressed on with their offensive in Aleppo on Thursday night and into Friday with ground fighting and air strikes, Reuters witnesses, rebels and a monitoring group said, part of a push to retake all of the city's besieged rebel-held east.

Before Syria's ruinous civil war struck Aleppo, the country's largest city was a busy commercial powerhouse and a proud historic center - its long heritage on display in ancient landmarks still used by modern day traders, travelers or worshippers. The rebels hoped their march into Aleppo marked the beginning of the end for President Bashar al-Assad, while the government in Damascus pledged to swiftly drive them out.